Nothing particularly unique can be described in the characteristics of Newman's two songs for Meet the Fockers. The duo of "We're Gonna Get Married" (over the opening titles) and "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" (over the closing credits) is a bit more rock-inspired than most of Newman's film songs, but you nevertheless get the feeling that you've heard both these songs in no less than five movies in the surrounding years. He varies his tone, his lyrics, and his structures so little that you begin to wonder if he infringes upon his own copyrights at times; the songs in Meet the Fockers could have functioned just as well in A Bug's Life or Monsters Inc., and for someone who has heard all of these fluffy songs and scores countless times, Newman's voice at its saturation point may start to give a person violent thoughts. If not irritating, these songs at the very least will be boring to many listeners, and Newman, despite the success he's had in the past with his niche, has to come up with a new twist, a new set of rhythms, or vastly different instrumentation to keep himself viable in these situations. His typical, nifty little female vocals repeating his lyrics or "eeewing and ahhhing" behind him are the real kicker this time. The underscore does its best to elevate the comedy of the story by playing upon the emotional swings of the picture. With a few tepid opening tracks featuring plucky rhythms that wouldn't be foreign to an equivalent Rachel Portman score, the album would seem hopeless at first, but in Newman's latter cues, he begins to inject some much-needed parody personality into the work. An ambitious pirate-inspired brass theme in "Meet the Fockers" yields to a foreboding and militaristic Godfather spin-off in "Suspicious Mind." A touch of Hispanic flavor leaks into the score in "The Shot" and one very strong orchestral outburst steals the final score cue, "Here's My Plan." On the whole, the Newman underscore material constitutes about 20 minutes on album. Released by Varèse Sarabande, the Meet the Fockers product is nearly identical in structure to Dreamworks' album for Meet the Parents, with the Newman songs followed by score and several unrelated rock songs appearing at the end. The non-Newman songs on this album reflect the laid-back attitude of the Focker family quite well. Overall, Newman's underscore shines through at times despite its predictable parody methods, but the man simply has to diversify himself in his own vocal department. The same old song over and over again isn't making as many people smile anymore.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download